Procrastinator? Who, me?

Well, my announcement that I was back was clearly premature. But as always, when I have a million other things to do, I come back to blogging. This week coming up is so busy so of course I'm taking ten minutes to update my sorely neglected blog.

We are all happy to see the holiday season approaching...not just because we love Christmas but because it means 2015 is finally going away. It's been a roller coaster of a year and we are hoping that 2016 might mean some stability. We're heading into the end of two years of upheaval and while Alex and I will appreciate a more settled life, Miss J needs it in the worst possible way! Little C is quite content with her situation but she doesn't remember anything except our current life.

We've been on a crazy ride of gentle climbs with great views of the future that all of a sudden fall into steep drops that leave your stomach hanging somewhere at the top. But as Alex said to me the other day, good things are coming. And he was right. Less than 24 hours later we got some great news and it just kept coming.

This week I have two term papers and two finals and then I'm starting the Christmas baking and decorating and celebrating with my kids. And maybe I'll start blogging again (although I may have lost my readers!)...we are just starting year two of a huge life change and it is pretty amazing, even with all the ups and downs!

Back to the books!

New Beginnings

Once upon a time, there was a blog here and it was about more than just postcards.

But then life happened and blogging became something that stayed at the bottom of the to do list.

In August, Alex and I did something we'd been talking about for years. We packed up our stuff and sent it away to storage. We loaded our kids and a few things into a UHaul, the back of our car and my mom and dad's station wagon and we moved to Kelowna. With no jobs, no daycare and a place in French Immersion for Miss J.

It was a bit scary and a lot exciting and somewhat nerve wracking but we did it.

And now, almost six months later, we're feeling quite settled and there might just be time for some blogging as we create new memories in a new city. I'm making no promises but I think I'm back!

Cakes and birthdays

37.3 and 37.4 Try 34 new recipes

It was Alex’s birthday this weekend and we celebrated the way we’ve been celebrating things around here lately…quietly and with cake. Because you have to have cake. When we were in Kelowna for spring break, we made my mom a scrumptious lemon cake with lemon curd and when it was my sisters’ birthday a month later J wanted to do the same. But it ended up being a bit busy the day they were coming (two weeks after their birthday because that’s how we roll), so I just made a lemon cake with lemon icing.

My head cake decorator had very specific requirements…this cake was blue and orange (although the final result looked pink) with purple icing (that ended up quite grey)

J was in charge of the decorations and she picked the candles. Apparently my sisters turned 211 this year. I’m not sure where that leaves me since I’m the oldest!

The cake ended up quite pretty looking. My oven almost caused a cake disaster…it wouldn’t be the first time…

For Alex’s birthday, I convinced J we could have a “normal” coloured cake, but she got to pick the flavours. Which I got to veto if the combinations were too strange. She settled on a very delicious sounding chocolate cake with peanut butter icing.

She decorated it herself with Reese’s Pieces that we sent Alex to the store specifically to get…and being the awesome daddy that he is, he was shocked and surprised when we presented him with the cake.

The cake was delicious and, due to close monitoring, my oven did not destroy this cake…but I can guarantee that if I did everything exactly the same way next time, I would end up with either a burnt or a raw cake. I miss my old oven…

I would totally make this combination again. It was a hit. I have a go-to chocolate cake recipe, but after sending Alex for Reese’s Pieces I discovered I didn’t have enough cocoa powder, so my friend Mr. Google helped me find a recipe based on how much cocoa powder I did have. And dear Martha came through again. I loved this cake. And it only took one bowl. And normally I’m not a fan of chocolate cake at all…maybe I have a new go-to? The frosting was fabulous…I might play around with it next time…less butter more peanut butter? We’ll see.

YUM!

Backyard Scavenger Hunt

82. Choose a month from the 26 things photography scavenger hunt archive and do the scavenger hunt

When we were in Kelowna at Thanksgiving, J and I decided to do another photo scavenger hunt. The first one we did was just the alphabet, but this time we chose the one from September 2004.

frame

glass

arrow

numbers

small

open

fruit

wheel

plastic

cover

natural

Saturday

multi-coloured

home

shadow

sticky

clean

foot

sport (she’s demonstrating how to dribble and block at the same time…)

round

group

man made

half

path

full

the end

Birthday Cake with Lemon Curd

37.2 Try 34 new recipes

While we were in Kelowna at Spring Break it was my mom’s birthday and J really wanted to make her a cake. So she did. Sort of…she decorated it with sprinkles, but it worked out perfectly. J wanted to make a lemon cake, so we went all out and made lemon cake with lemon icing and lemon curd.

The curd was amazing…you can see it seeping out here and unfortunately that’s the only picture I got of it, but it was soooooooooo good. I used Ina Garten’s recipe and I will be using it again…

We were a bit pressed for time…if I were to do this again, I’d spoon the curd on just before serving, so it could run down the sides. I would just ice the top layer of the cake (maybe the sides of the top layer, I haven’t decied)…although…it was even more delicious the second day when some of the curd had soaked into the cake.

My mom’s second birthday cake was a success!! Yum!

Sun Run Fun Run

21. Do the mini-Sun Run with J (and C if she's old enough)

So, the Sun Run literally runs past our front door. We always watched it, either from J’s room in our old place or from the grass median in front of the building (or both)…last year, J’s Auntie TeamHardCore ran the Sun Run and J decided it was time for her to run it too.

Obviously 10 km was a long walk/run for a five and a half year old and J also said she wanted all four of us to do, so when we got a notice from the school about Team Registration, we signed up for the Fun Run. It’s a shorted 2 km run/walk down around the arena and BC Place.

We were going to put Little C in the Ergo, but at the last minute, I decided I’d rather put her in the stroller. The Sun Run ended right at nap time and while she’ll still nap in the Ergo, she naps better (and longer) in the stroller. And then I decided to put the extra seat on the back…

Good thing I did…there was a bus schedule mix up and we ended up moving Little C to the back and actually getting J to ride in the front…she’s just under the weight limit still, but she’s sooooooooo big for the stroller. Once both girls were secured, Alex and I did some serious speed walking to the train and then from the train to the start. We got there one whole minute before start time!

Alex and J started out walking with me, but then J wanted to run, so they sped off ahead.

Little C had a great time…she pulled off both her running shoes, but thanks to kind people on the course, we got them both back…it took us just under 30 minutes to walk it which was pretty good considering we had paced it at closer to 50 minutes based on J’s speed through our neighbourhood.

Little C ate more of the recovery food than the rest of us put together (where in heaven’s name does she put it all?!?!)

The highlight of J’s day was not finishing the run…it was the bouncy castles set up in BC Place for the kids to play in after!

We were happy to have the double stroller on the way home. J was exhausted and it would have been a long, complainy walk home…instead we loaded her back in the stroller, put the sun shield on and she slept almost the whole way. Maybe in a few years we’ll try it again…maybe we’ll even try the 10 km!

J makes dinner

Little C’s first birthday meant it was almost time for my maternity leave to end…and that meant a whole bunch of changes for our family. One of things I’ve been in charge of is dinner, but with work hours, it would be after 5:00 before I’d even get home…and C eats early and goes to bed early. Alex is a novice cook and J had a great suggestion…they could learn to cook together!

So, off we went to the the kids’ bookstore and got them a couple of kids’ cookbooks with fairly easy recipes and lots of tips on techniques and photos to show how things are done.

J’s first dinner was tomato soup with garlic bread.



She loved being in the kitchen – she is using a paring knife, but we’re going to wait until her paring knife skills are a bit better before she gets to chop stuff…even so, she did most of the work on this yummy soup.



And she was pretty proud of the final product!



It received a Little C stamp of approval as well!

Back to basics…

 

For ages and ages and ages (okay fine, the better part of a year) I tried to post a menu plan for us each week. Lots has happened since my last menu plan…two and a half years ago…eeeep….

 

So after riding the roller coaster of life for a while, Alex and I have decided we’d like life to slow down a bit. Meal times are a bit hectic what with four competing schedules and two very tired kids at dinner time…I’m only going to plan dinner this week, but once we’re back into the swing of things, I think I’m going to try to plan our lunches too…all too often my lunch ends up being tossed together at the last minute and as I’m already not the biggest lunch fan, it doesn’t make me happy…

Monday: Chicken Wings with rice, carrots and peas

Tuesday: Macaroni and cheese (with hidden cauliflower) and broccoli

Wednesday: Meatloaf with chick peas served with mashed potatoes, cauliflower and peas

Thursday: Teriyaki chicken with rice and stir fried broccoli

Friday: Chicken and dumplings

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

Sunday: Carrot and lentil soup with Kari’s bread

Nothing fancy here and nothing new to us…the first two recipes are courtesy of my mom and I don’t even use a recipe anymore, the pizza dough recipe is my dad’s and while I used to make it from memory, my memory isn’t that good now that I have a toddler and we haven’t made pizza for a long time. The meatloaf is packaged up in the freezer and we’re all excited about it! Yummy!!!

Of course, being the Organizing Junkie, Laura is still posting meal plans…if you need ideas (or more likely when I need ideas for next week), there are links to many meal plans over there.

And then she was one…

One year ago, this was the scene in our living room…it was a very exciting time for all of us…

And now, both of those little girls are so much bigger…it’s been one incredible year!

C was super excited about her birthday even though she really didn’t get it…I think she was just excited because her big sister was!

She was not impressed when we took the cake away to be cut up…but she didn’t get as sad as her sister did on her first birthday(s)

And she was pretty happy when the cake finally came back….

She loved opening presents…there were enough gifts that each of her cousins and her sister got to help her open at least once…what a spoiled little lady!!!

Happy Birthday Baby C…can’t imagine not being a family of four!